What is erythema dyschromicum perstans (EDP)?

C. Oswaldo Ramirez of San Salvador, El Salvador, first described erythema dyschromicum perstans (EDP) in 1957.
[1] He called the patients with this eruption Los cenicientos, meaning the ashen ones. The Spanish term cenicienta also means Cinderella because of this folklore character's close association with ashes from sitting at home alone by the fireplace. Later, erythema dyschromicum perstans was called dermatosis ceniciento, meaning ashy dermatosis, because of its ashy bluish gray color. The term erythema dyschromicum perstans is credited to Marion B. Sulzberger, who suggested it when examining Convit's
[2] patients in Caracas. Sulzberger's comment, in discussion of another paper, is as follows:

... the narrow red border (which is often hard to find), represents the active lesions. This is why I suggested a name which contains the term "erythema" and which also suggests the variety and persistence of the final dyschromias.

The descriptive term ashy dermatosis was also used as a designation for their coloration. In South America, another name, erythema chronicum figuratum melanodermicum, is also used.

Erythema dyschromicum perstans (ashy dermatosis) is a distinct and somewhat controversial cutaneous eruption that may be best regarded as a form of lichen planus or lichen planus actinicus.
[3, 4, 5] A consensus on terminology has been delineated.
[6] Some favor a new entity, identified as acquired macular pigmentation of unknown etiology, under which the rubric erythema dyschromicum perstans, ashy dermatosis, lichen planus pigmentosus, and idiopathic eruptive macular pigmentation would fit.
[7]

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Contributor Information and Disclosures

Author

Robert A Schwartz, MD, MPH Professor and Head of Dermatology, Professor of Pathology, Pediatrics, Medicine, and Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; Visiting Professor, Rutgers University School of Public Affairs and Administration

Disclosure: Received income in an amount equal to or greater than $250 from: Lilly; Amgen <br/>Received honoraria from UpToDate for author/editor; Received honoraria from JAMA Dermatology for associate editor; Received royalty from Elsevier for book author/editor; Received dividends from trust accounts, but I do not control these accounts, and have directed our managers to divest pharmaceutical stocks as is fiscally prudent from Stock holdings in various trust accounts include some pharmaceutical companies and device makers for i inherited these trust accounts; for: Allergen; Celgene; Pfizer; 3M; Johnson and Johnson; Merck; Abbott Laboratories; AbbVie; Procter and Gamble; Amgen.

Chief Editor

Dirk M Elston, MD Professor and Chairman, Department of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine

Shyam Verma, MBBS, DVD, FAAD Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, University of Virginia School of Medicine; Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, State University of New York at Stonybrook School of Medicine; Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine